Thursday, November 7, 2013

Hundreds of volunteers joined members of
Montgomery County’s nonprofit community in the early morning hours during Nov. 4-6
to assist in the County’s first-ever “Registry Week” that is a key element of
the 100,000 Homes Campaign. The
campaign seeks to reach out to the chronically homeless, especially those who
are medically vulnerable, to assess their needs and try to get them to accept
the variety of housing opportunities that are available to them.

During Registry Week, about 300 volunteers spread out throughout
the County from 4-7 a.m. on each of the three days to survey homeless
individuals who are living in streets, parks and other areas. By assessing the
reasons that they have attributed for refusing housing options, the County can
better formulate attempts to get them to accept housing.

Members of the Montgomery County Council,
County Executive Isiah Leggett and representatives of the County-wide
non-profit community worked for several months in urging residents to volunteer
for Registry Week. The survey of the homeless is part of the commitment Montgomery County has made in joining more
than 200 communities nationwide in the 100,000 Homes Campaign.

The local
campaign is a joint effort that includes Montgomery County Coalition for the
Homeless, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and
many other government agencies, nonprofits and organizations. This is the first time Montgomery County has
assembled an organized effort to participate in the 100,000 Homes Campaign.

The public
is invited to attend a community/media debriefing on the outcome and
results learned during Registry Week. The debriefing will take place at 11 a.m.
on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the Council Office Building (COB) at 100 Maryland
Avenue in Rockville. At the event, formerly homeless individuals will share their
stories. Other speakers will talk about how the 100,000 Homes Campaign is
changing lives, the reality that people living on the street die 25 years
prematurely than the rest of society and how permanent housing is more cost
effective than hospital, jail and shelter recidivism.

It is
intended for the survey data to be utilized quickly and
efficiently to move the County’s most vulnerable chronically homeless neighbors
into permanent housing with supportive services.

Earlier this
year, the County participated in the 2013 Point-in-Time Count of Homeless
Persons in the Metropolitan Washington Region in which volunteers attempted to
count and survey as many homeless people as possible in a one-day event. That
count found that, on one given day, 1,007 individuals experienced homelessness
in Montgomery County, and that 222 of these individuals were chronically
homeless.

“The 100,000 Homes campaign has worked in
other areas of the nation and Montgomery County has been studying the most
successful practices used,” said County Councilmember George Leventhal, who
chairs the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee, serves on the
Executive Committee of the Montgomery County 100,000 Homes Campaign and urged
the Council to fund the program. “We are fortunate in our County. If we can
identify the most medically vulnerable homeless people in our County who can be
helped, we have the resources to help them. Not all jurisdictions are in that
position. Taking this survey is crucial to the success of this effective
program.”

County Council Vice President Craig Rice
said the County must take steps to help solve a continuing problem.

“This County has done many things over
the years to help address our homeless population,” said Council Vice President
Rice. “The 100,000 Homes Campaign targets a special segment of this
population—a population that has been difficult to reach. Through this program,
and the steps that are being put in place, we now have a better chance of
letting them tell us their needs and then directly working to finding housing
for these most vulnerable people.”

County Executive Leggett said: “Helping
those most vulnerable in our community is extremely important. This campaign
will help us identify those at greatest need so we can help move them into
permanent housing.”

This past summer, the local Campaign reported 64 of the most vulnerable
people were housed since the County joined the 100,000 Homes Campaign, helping
push the national campaign to over 50,000 housing placements. Currently the
national 100,000 Homes Campaign has housed over 70,000 homeless individuals.

“The Campaign has been preparing for this
monumental moment when we will join together as a community to not only
assesses homeless individuals’ needs towards effectively housing them, but we
will also know them each by name,” says MCCH Executive Director Susie
Sinclair-Smith.

For more
information on the Montgomery County 100,000 Homes Campaign, contact Homes Campaign Manager Herb Smith at hsmith@mcch.net or 301-917-6648.